Storage phosphor imaging systems are known. In one such system, a storage phosphor is exposed to an x-ray image of an object, such as a body part of a patient, to record a latent x-ray image in the storage phosphor. The latent x-ray image is read out by stimulating the storage phosphor with stimulating radiation. Upon stimulation, the storage phosphor releases emitted radiation of a particular wavelength. To produce a signal useful in electronic image processing, the storage phosphor is scanned, for example, by a laser beam deflected by an oscillating or rotating scanning mirror or by a rotation hologon. The emitted radiation from the storage phosphor is reflected by a collector and detected by a photodetector, such as a photomultiplier, to produce an electronic x-ray image signal. The x-ray image signal can then be viewed as a visual image produced by a softcopy display device, such as a CRT or LCD display, or a hardcopy display device, such as a x-ray film printer (laser printer, CRT printer, thermal printer).
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 31,847 (Luckey) discloses a storage phosphor system. The reader is often referred to as a computed radiography (CR) reader.
The storage phosphor can be disposed on a medium, such as a sheet or a screen. After the storage phosphor is processed/scanned/read/exposed by the storage phosphor processor/reader, the storage phosphor can be fed to an erasing unit to erase the radiation image information from the storage phosphor, after which the storage phosphor is returned to the cassette for reuse.
Erasure of the storage phosphor is known, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,177 (Kimura); U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,709 (Yoshimoto); U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,386 (Kojima); U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,663 (Neary); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,710 (Suzuki).
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for erasing the storage phosphor which provides for uniform erasure of the storage phosphor.